Catching Up With Brit Lilly—Career Goals In Hand

Still two years shy of his 40th birthday, Brit Lilly heads to the Key West Offshore World Championships early next month with two very different roles to play. Lilly is the driver for the Super Cat-class Dirty Money team, which finished second behind the M CON/Monster Energy team in the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series. He’s also the throttleman for the Class 1 XINSURANCE team, which finished fifth overall in the Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Championship.

Dirty Money teammates Brit Lilly and Bill Pyburn finished second in the APBA National Championship Series in the Super Cat class. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Both regular-season experiences left the 38-year-old owner of Lilly Sport Boats in Arnold, Md., which builds canopied Extreme V-bottoms for Mod V competition, with something to prove. That’s not because he carries a chip on his shoulder from trying to live up to his famous offshore racing father Art Lilly, who died this year at age 77. His dad remains his inspiration and his hero.

But as a Super Cat driver and Class 1 throttleman, Lilly still has much to accomplish. Those chapters in his already significant offshore racing career didn’t open long ago.

Of course, he knows he isn’t going to get it all done in the final three races of the season in Key West. But there is an APBA world title at stake in the Super Cat class and a Race World Offshore Key West Worlds title up for grabs in Class 1.

Lilly is ready to go. Key West can’t come soon enough. Just ask him

Your Super Cat and Class 1 seasons have been very different so far. You must have different goals for each class in Key West next month.

We were hoping for a national championship in Super Cat, but hats off to M CON for putting a great season together and taking the title. But we are ready to prove to everyone how fast we are and we are planning to come out of Key West victorious.

Brit Lilly will throttle the XINSURANCE Class 1 raceboat alongside driver Randy Kent at the the Key West Worlds next month.

As for Class 1, I was super disappointed about Clearwater and St. Pete being canceled because I wanted the seat time. I haven’t had a lot of seat time in the boat. But we start testing again next week and Rick Lindsey of XINSURANCE has given us everything possible—new engines, new propellers and so on—to be on top. Our plan is to get on the podium on Wednesday and do better each day. One thing is for sure, the Class 1 competition is going to be through the roof in Key West.

You and driver Randy Kent got a late start this year with the XINSURANCE catamaran still being repaired when the Class 1 season started.

We did, but the boat is improving. I haven’t had a lot of time in it, but it’s getting better and better.

Did you ever think you’d be part of a Class 1 team, much less a throttleman for one?

No, to be on the baddest team in Class 1 is a dream come true. Rick and the XINSURANCE group are absolutely amazing. Everybody is having a good time and it’s a total family atmosphere, very relaxed. It’s a joy to be a part of.

How about being a driver for a Super Cat team—was that something you thought about?

Yeah, my dad and I had talked about it as a ‘career goal.’ But now that I am here I am doing everything I can to make sure I stay here. The experience has been just phenomenal.

Lilly’s wife, Amanda, and four-year-old daughter, Stella Rogue, cheer him on at every race.

Before you entered the catamaran classes, you were well-known and respected for your accomplishments, which included world and national championships, in Mod V class. Do you miss it?

(Laughs) Oh man, it’s hard to watch those races—seeing all those boats out there and not being part of it is so hard. I still bring my trailer and all my spare parts to races to support the Extreme teams in Mod V. I am hooked for life. And I’m not going to stop building boats for the class and more. In fact, I am coming out with a new open-cockpit pleasure version.

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